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Published: December 12th 2011
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So I’m sitting on the floor at Dubai airport, next to a power point so that I can use my laptop- yes, there are plenty of chairs available, but none that are convenient. My mother would be so proud! It reminds me of a time when Anna and I were flying back home from Paris via singapore and found a comfortable position on the floor to sleep, in our St Hilda’s tracky dacks and with plane hair. Ahh, memories...
Anyway… So tbh (parentals- that means ‘to be honest’), I was too lazy to write a blog about my last few weeks in Ethiopia. They went a bit like this:
1) I went to the Omo Valley with another volunteer from Adelaide- Katherine. Omo is in the South of Ethiopia, with over 50 different tribes gracing its plains. We only got to see the Murssi tribe (the ones with lip disks- reference photo) but it was amazing! They all demanded money for photographs- 2 Birr per person per photo, but I guess it’s fair- it’s their way to make money. And when you consider that 2 Birr is under 10c, it’s quite acceptable haha. Katherine and I had a lot
of fun together- staying in accommodations with little electricity, cold water, no electricity and no water. One had electricity after 6pm, when the generator would be turned on- too bad they had nothing to power the generator with. We had an interesting tour guide- from Stone Age tours in the Friendship plaza in Addis. The owner decided he wanted a holiday, so he was our guide and driver. Too bad he forgot that he was still being paid to do a job! So between him not giving us any information until the last minute, and the fact he verbally abused me in the car for being ‘immature’, ‘a bad person’ and ‘racist’ (and even Katherine agreed there was no apparent reason for it!)- more than once!- we did think we could have had a better guide… We decided to make documentaries each night on my camera- the lucky few to watch these will observe how invaluable and poetic the information we provide is. The title of this documentary miniseries is ‘Places you’ve never heard of, and never plan on going to’. Featured towns include Derze, Aber Minch, Jinka and Awassa. We coined the phrase ‘done it in Derze’- a village
where we ate local banana bread- made out of fake bananas (unfortunately not the ‘artificial’ type- that would have been delicious!), with honey sauce (there were solids in it- suss!) and chilli sauce. It is lucky I can communicate this to you through writing, as I think my tongue still has not fully recovered from the chilli. We washed this down with Aruke- local home brew made from fermented maize, garlic, honey and hops. Two words- Rocket. Fuel. I tasted it, while Katherine was brave enough to do the whole shot!
Despite not wanting to, we went home via Awassa- if this sounds familiar, it should, my loyal readers! We went there on my second weekend in Ethiopia. A pretty good reason not to go again! Anyhow, our guide decided we would, so we did. We stayed at Haile this time- a resort opened by the internationally renowned runner Haile Gebreselassi (or something like that..). It. Was. Amazing. Not only did they have power, but they had toilet paper. There was complementary mini golf, tennis and pool. Like, HELLO! Unfortunately there was a conference going on while we were there, so our hopes to order endless amounts of room
service were destroyed- but they allowed us to go to the buffet, and take as much food on as many plates as we wanted back to the room. The night was so good, it wasn’t even ruined by the thought that the next day we’d have an awkward 4 hour drive back to Addis with our guide.
During that 4 hour drive we went through Shashemene. Again. Yes, this is the place that I did not enjoy last trip- for unnamed reasons. This time I am quite happy to name reasons. My iPhone was stolen. Goodbye music, photos, international texting/calling and most importantly, Angry Birds. All I can hope is that some pick pocket child out there is currently enjoying Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video clip- because God knows, I’m not!
We got back to Addis in 1 piece- unexpectedly, especially after a few near run ins with buses.
2) My last week in Addis was pretty good- saying goodbye is never easy, but I felt like it was the right time to leave. The hardest thing was saying goodbye to the girls at OPRIFS- I really have grown to love all of them. We didn’t have
a big goodbye party, because I’ve been sick most of the week, but we had a small ceremony all the same. The girls I grew really close to were crying, but there was one- Roman- who was more affected than the others. I hadn’t felt like we’d been particularly close- but this is something I’m grateful for: A lesson that sometimes we can affect others more than we realise- and sometimes it may even be in a positive way.
And now, I am in Dubai airport, with another 18 minutes until Gate 105 opens. I am so excited to be seeing Kaz, Uncle Dennis, William and Alice again- I saw them in Qatar 10 months ago- and as I’ve been making a habit of seeing them at least every 6 months, I’d say I’m well overdue for a visit! Haha. I am so glad to have such wonderful family- I can’t wait to be spending time with them. And the shops at Villagio. I may or may not be disappointed if the people working at Zara don’t recognise me- or at least my credit card.
I don’t think I’ll write another entry until the
end of my stay in Qatar, when I’ll be preparing to begin my adventure in West Africa. So to everyone, I’d like to wish you a safe and merry christmas- and of course I wish you many presents and much plum pudding (just to accompany your brandy custard)! Whether you’re spending it with those you love, or are half a world away, it is one of the few times of year that we show each other how much we love and care for them- so, for now, to my friends, Mummy, Daddy, Michael and Anna- Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
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